The past week in healthcare-related investigations

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another edition of Investigative Roundup, collecting some of the best investigative reporting on healthcare each week. This week we have follow-ups to previous stories, a damning series on privatizing Medicaid in Texas, and a look into the opioid crisis' disturbing new spinoff.

As always, we'd love to hear your ideas for stories that need a closer look. If you have ideas, drop us a line.

After Medicaid Privatization, Steep Cuts in Care

The Dallas Morning News launched a series they're calling "Pain and Profit," which looks at how companies paid by the state to handle Medicaid issues fall short. The first installment explored the case of a baby named D'ashon Morris who needs assistance to breathe. In the months before his first birthday, D'ashon began pulling out his trach tube. Despite evidence that it was a constant problem, the company supervising his care ruled that he did not require around-the-clock care. Physicians called it a matter of life and death.

It didn't matter. He didn't get the care. His tube dislodged one night; he's now brain dead. The second piece, highlighting care to poor adults, published Monday.

When Opioids Are Discouraged, Pain Gets Short Shrift

Physicians' growing discomfort prescribing opioids -- and the federal government's efforts to curb prescription rates -- has left those in chronic pain in the lurch, the Washington Post reports. Some are flying across the country to find a prescription, while others are turning to unregulated substances such as kratom.

"I am seeing many people who are being harmed by these sometimes draconian actions amid this headstrong rush into finding a simple solution to this incredibly complicated problem," said Sean Mackey, chief of Stanford University's Division of Pain Medicine. "I do worry about the unintended consequences."

"Behave More Sexually" To Sell Opioids

Meanwhile, we have another installment of Mother Jones' look at the eye-popping tactics Insys Therapeutics used to push opioids on physicians at the height of the opioid crisis. This time, lawsuits include claims that saleswomen were told to "behave more sexually" with providers, and to ask them to prescribe drugs as a favor to the sales reps. Other physicians were taken to strip clubs, shooting ranges, and expensive dinners.

The company also made questionable hires, allegedly to convince physicians using something other than objective medical arguments. These include an escort manager in Florida, a physician's girlfriend, and a dental hygienist -- all with the suggestion that they were to trade sex for prescriptions.

400+ Victims in USC Gyno Scandal

After the Los Angeles Times reported on allegations against the University of Southern California's George Tyndall, MD, more than 400 people contacted a hotline to report additional abuse. On Sunday, the newspaper dedicated two full pages to some of their stories, reported online here. With some 30 years of practice at the university, the stories represent "a generation of abuse," the paper reports.

The claims include stories about doing pelvic exams with little reason, prying questions about the patients' sex lives and inappropriate comments about ethnicity. The newspaper even contacted a former chaperone for Tyndall, who said, "I reported him because it was not right how he treated the girls.... I said I don't want to work with him."

Failing to Protect Lead-Poisoned Kids in Milwaukee

Last but not least, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a piece examining the city's childhood lead prevention program, which reported 108 lead poisoning cases in the past 5 years. More than 90% of cases were closed before lead levels had dropped to safe levels. The city also failed to do risk assessments at the homes of poisoned children -- in many cases, there was no evidence an investigator even visited the house.

"Clearly, there are problems within the program itself in terms of following through with children who have clear-cut lead poisoning," said Bruce Lanphear, a health sciences expert at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

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